Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Announcements, ^c. 119 



An article ' On Norfolk Island/ by Dr. C. T. Downing (in 

 the lately published second part of the third volume of the 

 Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania), 

 contains the following paragraphs relating to the birds now 

 found there. Among them may be recognized some of the spe- 

 cies indicated by Herr von Pelzeln in his paper on the ornitho- 

 logy of this island, of which we gave a resume in our last Number 

 ('Ibis,' 1860, p. 421). But there is Kttle doubt that Herr von 

 Pelzeln's list does not embrace all the species of birds found in 

 the island; for Dr. Downing mentions three kinds of Parrots as 

 occurring there, and Herr von Pelzeln only gives one — the 

 Nestor. It would be very desirable that a complete investiga- 

 tion should be made of the Faunas of this and similar isolated 

 spots of the world's surface, and their peculiar species registered, 

 before the advancing tide of human civilization shall have com- 

 pletely extirpated them, as has been already the case in some 

 well-known instances. 



" A greater number and variety of the feathered tribes inhabit 

 this lonely group, or visit it during the breeding-season. The 

 Guinea-fowl (?) was observed by the early navigators, but has 

 now become quite extinct. There are three kinds of Parrot 

 on Norfolk Island : — the small crimson and blue Lory — Psit- 

 tacus pennantii ; one green with a red ring round the base of 

 the beak ; and another. These birds are easily entrapped. A 

 dingy-plumaged Kingfisher, bold and fierce, is very common, 

 and passes under the name of ' The Norfolker.' The domestic 

 Pigeon has been naturalized, and breeds abundantly among the 

 cliffs. Its numbers would be troublesome but for the ravages of 

 the wild Cats. A large and handsome species of Pigeon, called 

 the 'Wood Queest,' with bronzed head and breast, is met with 

 occasionally round the base of Mount Pitt, but has hitherto 

 resisted all efforts at domestication. In addition, there is a 

 variety of the Blackbird (so called) or Robin, with a white head 

 and scarlet breast, Guava birds, White-eyes, and Fautails. These 

 last-named small birds are met with in the gullies, and are so 

 tame as to perch upon the finger or a stick, if held towards 

 them. One specimen of the Avocet, the Recui'virostra ruhri- 

 collis, was shot upon the island about a year and a half since, 



